1. Fire Starter Festival 27 January – 14 February 2020 #fsf2019
Karen Lawson
Scottish Government
#fsf2019

2. Sharing and celebrating creativity and disruptive innovation in public services
The Fire Starter Festival is an annual festival highlighting and celebrating innovation and creativity in Scottish public services, with a particular focus on transformational change. The Festival is curated and organised by Scottish Government, with events hosted by a broad range of public sector, third sector and community organisations. In 2018 it will run between 29 January – 9 February

3. The Scottish Context Christie Commission 2011
Public service reform has been central to Scottish public policy since the publication of the ‘Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services’ (Christie Commission) in 2011.
Christie reported on 4 key themes or pillars for public service reform:
a decisive shift towards prevention;
greater integration of public services at a local level driven by better partnership, collaboration and effective local delivery;
greater investment in the people who deliver services through enhanced workforce development and effective leadership; and
a sharp focus on improving performance, through greater transparency, innovation and use of digital technology.

4. The Scottish Context Scottish Approach to Government
The Christie Commission set out 'what' we are trying to achieve, the 'Scottish Approach' demonstrates 'how' it should be delivered:
Participation and Co-production: enabling people to shape and co-design the services they use.
Assets-based: valuing the strengths of people and communities to build social capital and capacity, rather than focusing solely on perceived deficit
Creating Conditions for Change & Making the Change

5. National Performance Framework

6. Workforce Scotland
Workforce Scotland is the collaborative entity of the Scottish Leaders Forum, working with public services to collaborate on complex, systemic issues in service of wider public service transformation.
Workforce Scotland has been developed with organisations across public services to:
Maximise our collective resources, and make the most of the skills, capacity and expertise within public services in Scotland
Provide connections and improve relationships across public services
Share thinking and learning about collaboration across sectors
Support and promote a wide range of diverse development activities offered through partner organisations.

7. Workforce Scotland
Breakfast Clubs: monthly, informal networking for those interested in public service transformation, held across Scotland
Collective Leadership: a programme that supports learning, insight and creative thinking in those addressing complex issues that span organisational boundaries
Dialogue Community of Practice: a development offer supporting the theory and practice of dialogue in service of more effective conversations
Facilitation & Mindfulness Networks: supported network events in Glasgow and Edinburgh drawing together facilitators and those interested in developing a more mindful nation
Fire Starter Festival: an annual festival celebrating creativity and innovation across Public Services
Leadership Exchange: a mechanism for brief exchanges to experience different perspectives
Scottish Coaching and Mentoring Collaborative: creating opportunities and to share and develop coaching and mentoring capacity across public services
U.lab Scotland: a movement for transformational change underpinned by ‘Theory U’

8. Fire Starter Festival
A two week festival celebrating creativity and innovation to support Public Service Transformation
Fire Starter Festival is:
Co-produced
Collaborative
National festival with events all across the country
Open to anyone with a passion and interest in transformation

9. Fire Starter Festival is…

10. A platform for exploring questions
The festival also asked ‘burning questions’ – like how to address ‘the elephant in the room’ around co-production

11. Igniting new ideas
Ignite new ideas
Ignite new ideas

12. Burning the things we want to leave behind
Events happened in different places – this was an outdoor education event for teachers – they also burned they things they wanted to leave behind

13. Sharing the small fires of change
The festival was also about sharing and exploring issues together. This event was a continuation of the 2016 Performance Bonfire, looking in 2017 at how you can make performance matter – so it’s about the people rather than the data.

14. A small pilot of the festival was held in 2016
A small pilot of the festival was held in events over 5 days attended by 150 people.

15. Fire Starter Festival 2017 1200 Participants 35 Events 8 Days
2017 was the first ‘full’ festival and saw an explosion of interest from 2016.

16. Fire Starter Festival 2018 2000 Participants
Launch event with First Minister at Kelvingrove
72 Events across Scotland
14 Days
Year of Young People

18. Fire Starter Festival 2019 Design Your Own… Launch - 28 January Dundee 28 January – 8 February
Programme of events so far for 2018

19. Theory of Change ‘Small Fires of Change’
In complexity, change happens through emergence
Small actions allow us to take small risks, try new things – bringing attention to new possibilities
Actions could be as simple as exploring a question or having a conversation – that can ignite systemic change
The connections, networks and relationships that Fire Starter builds and develops support small fires of change to ignite across the country

20. The Benefits Showcase your work
Extend networks and develop ideas with new partners
Participate in a national platform supporting innovation and creativity in public service
Collaborate and use public resources more effectively and efficiently
Help shape the future of public services.

21. The ‘Rules’
free to attend – there is no charge for participation in Fire Starter events.
accessible and open – events must be open to participants, no matter their organisation or background.
self-organised – events must be organised by those hosting them and their partners. Unfortunately the Fire Starter Festival team has limited capacity and cannot support, resource or fund events.
There are three rules for Fire Starter Festival. If you want to host an event and aren’t sure if you can meet all three, please speak to us in the first instance as we may be able to be flexible

22. Our Ethos We think Fire Starter events should:
celebrate and share creative, innovative and disruptive ways that support transformation
open participants up to new ideas, methods, projects and practices that they may not have been exposed to before
be hosted in creative, different and engaging ways, making best use of your talents, skills and interests, both in and out of work
make use of different spaces, venues and locations across Scotland – indoor, outdoor or even online
We think all Fire Starter Festival events should align within the ethos of the festival.

23. Guided Reflections What has emerged for you so far this morning?
What ‘big question’ would you like to explore?
What connections do you see?
What do you want to ignite?
What do you want to burn?

24. Table discussions What could you offer Fire Starter Festival?
What could Fire Starter Festival offer you?
What questions do you now have?

25. Plenary Feedback What could you offer Fire Starter Festival?
What could Fire Starter Festival offer you?
What questions do you now have?

26. Important Info Contact me - ingage@gov.scot
For more info -
Social media and #fsf2020
Launch – 27th January
Festival - 27 January – 14 February 2020
Contact if you want to host an event